Forward to Happiness

Proud of My Rays

I'm proud of my baseball team. Are they winning at the moment? No. We are in game 3 of the , and in this inning they are losing 10 to zero, having lost two games in the series, already. But, I am proud of them. Why?

Well, first of all, it is the best of the best, and they are not the first team that has felt the sting of being by their opponent. Many have, in fact. The , my team, has performed admirably this season, and even in this series has shown a die hard and talent filled spirit. The other team has just also had the same spirit. Does it take away from my team's personal accomplishments to have someone do better? I don't condemn myself in a running race, simply because there are people ahead of me.

I'm also proud of them for training hard, trying hard, and showing up to do their best this season. I have been very imporessed by the team, and I think they might just be the best Rays team that has ever existed.

Finally, I'm proud of my team, because they are my team, representing the place that I will call home. They are OUR team and are worthy of our support, even when they do not win the game. If we only support them when they win, what does that say about OUR loyalty and support?

I know that it is conrary to how the public and the press will treat it all. Many will be talking for weeks about every flaw and every mistake and every lost opportunity. But, I would not like that if the same standard was applied to me.

And, so... I am proud of my team. However this series turns out, well done, .

Love Thy Neighbor

The Scripture focus at my church that I watch online and will soon attend in person this weekend was the Great Commandments, which Jesus gave for everyone to follow. They were...

“You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments." | Matthew 22:37-40

That is often said and quoted in churches, so it is not a new thing to be said but saying them this weekend is, I believe, very important, as we head into election seasons around the world and thereafter Thanksgiving.

This touches on many different posts that I have said over the last several months, but I will bring them together in summary and apply them. But, first, I want to make a new point on that reading. Jesus said that the commandment about loving your neighbor is "like" the first commandment, so this is something that we should be doing with all of our heart, with all of our soul, and with all of our mind.

Jesus didn't come into the world and lead an army to victory, even if that was what the people were wanting. He didn't come to prove someone right or to make someone wrong. In fact, as I have noted, h literally took all of the blame in the world, so He could stand by the side of those hurting... he took THEIR blame, which also allowed Him to FREE them, because as I have noted people in pain are the ones that cause the most pain and giving them blame only gives them more to overcome.

What is our purpose in the world? If we want to cause peace, people must be redeemed, and it is an open question whether people still want redemption, even as we all must have it to be fit to stand on our own. Most of the world is geared to find fault, condemn, exclude, block, hate, etc. Few will put their pride aside to actually LOVE, and Jesus is the one that stands at the head of that line saying do not be like the world.

So, as we go into the election, do vote your conscience and convictions and care, but do not do it because you are trying to make anyone feel bad and do not do it belittling those that are hurting and thus attacking on both sides. Let's remember that this election is a period to show love, too.. not just afterwards when we eat turkey and sing Christmas hymns.

Draw Away and Rejoin

That isn't the best title for this blog post, but it will do. I'm enjoying some time doing a puzzle and listening to and will resume doing it upon finish of this blog post, but the pieces came together in doing it for this blog post in my mind and what I want to say with it.

I love that kind of music. The music plays softly in the background and slowly and quietly a chant rises over it saying something as simple as or or whatever. And, in that moment you feel transcended to on a very personal level and at one with the universe at work. Notice that I didn't say you felt connected to the person singing that note... you probably would never even think of him as a person, had I not just said that. His purpose isn't to teach some grand message or draw any attention to himself at all but to make it possible for you to connect with on your own, serving a very .

So, how is it that the person that is doing the singing is personally satisfied and has peace without being noticed? I have come to a clearer undersanding of this over the years and especially recently upon my own .

We are pushed into a very . I have noted this before, saying why is it that people think they need to fix by making them more social, rather than fix by getting them to more of those that would rather not be so public? But, our society thinks that to have balance and to be complete, you need to have someone else there... a mate, family, friends, a group, or more. Now, I am not saying that you should not be a part of those things. You should. But, first... you need to do what the does that is singing the chant and what I have done and am in the process of doing... draw away... pull back away to more and find comfort and peace in that. Rcconnect with God on an individual level, so that you always have God there. Learn to love not to be noticed but simply because it is good and will benefit others. Find balance in yourself, so that you know that if it is only you and , it is more than enough. Then... rejoin.

I believe that doing this will benefit everyone, and sometimes it may take drastic changes in your life to get you to be still enough to do it. But, that would be my challenge to you. As you improve yourself ... for yourself.. add to that improving your by moments of daily. Then, rejoin your day as a more complete person, ready to not only address challenges but contribute to the lives of those around you.

My Own Faith

Lately, I have been coming back to my faith in a more deep level. I have never been without it, but at times certain things have happened that made it difficult to practice due to connections or location or more. I have also struggled with concepts like or with certain trials, but that was because of a misunderstanding of what faith could be in absence of expectation or self need focus. However, I had to have that time away from the depth to learn to appreciate and understand a lot of things about myself, about life, and about the on a personal level.

However, as I build my faith up, agian, there are certain things that I want to use as guides for my personal growth in it, and I want to share them in case they are also beneficial to you, as well.

First of all, my faith will be MY faith, as it has been but more fully. It is a without it being tied to another person in between. No one should have the authority or ability to interfere with your faith connection to God. We should remember that God says He is a , and some of his strongest warnings of judgment in the that is more about love is to warn against disrupting the faith journey of anyone else. This is like my blog posts about my understanding of the purposes of and that our freedom should not be used to disrupt the faith in God by others.

It will be personal, though I will speak of it from time to time, as I think it is a good thing for everyone to establish on their own with their God, not involving me. But, there will be a lot of faith moments for me that never reach social media, because... that not the point of it. I may date or be friends with others that have faith, but it will not be a requirement and they will never have a role in my faith other than a companion and not someone either leading me in it or judging me for it.

It has become and will continue to be a source of peace and stability for me, as it is always there, and it travels with me wherever I go. But, my whole life will not consist of it. I have quite a few other interests, which will remain my interests.

So, that is just a few points I wanted to make as my cooking is in the oven. I hope they help others.

Agency - You Are Responsible

It is not only a shame but a waste of time that so many of us over our lives spent so much of our time trying to determine and to argue who is to blame for our current condition or current struggles or for why we do not have this thing or that thing. At times, I have been part of those that engaged in that kind of analysis but not recently. Most of my life, though, I spend my time trying to find solutions or ways to do things better so that my results turn out better and so that I can become better.

However, has become so popular, today. was the name of a that I did one semester in a pass / fail course just for fun from the . In the course, there were a lot of textbooks, and it was more structured as a . So, rather than making conclusions the point of the course was simply to present facts and . I could have never guessed that this course would have so much relevance in our current day.

The highlight of the course was the fact that so many different cultures were raise to believe that their current condition was the result of THIS group or that group and to totally bypass the fact that everyone.. every single person.. has .

What do I mean by . I mean the ability to act on behalf of someone. That is what that word means. Sometimes, we can delegate that to another person, though I would exercise caution in doing that. But, the PRIMARY person with authority and ability to act for your life is YOU. It is like the quote that .

In reality, you cannot blame anyone else for your sequence of events that happen in your life.. or at least not solely responsible. We all in some way make a choice.. to stay, to love, to invest our time, to sacrifice, and so forth. Can someone take advantage of that. Yes. But, you also could be responsible for not speaking up about your own needs or your own boundaries. You also chose to give to them, and giving is a good thing in this world, within reason. But, none of our past was written without our consent.

So carrry that forward to the present and the future. Who has the most authority and ability to impact our lives? We do. So, when difficulties come, as I aid it is a waste of time and energy to spend our time looking for blame rather than looking for how to fix a situation or how to move on to other alternative paths.

So, do not forget that the person with the greatest is you, and then take the time to love yourself enough to choose good paths that can lead you to happy outcomes.

Pride - Good and Bad

English is a funny and confusing language, when you compare it to other languages, and that definitely applies to someone that tries to read the , oftentimes. For example, we have one word for love, whereas there are like six in . Even when there is only one word, it is often used and meant in different ways with different meanings. If we are not careful, we can end up in dismissing some things from our desire to defend something that we feel is right.

An example of this is the word "." We have read of how in the is supposed to have fallen from pride. Now, a lot of us, especially in our younger years but often true in older ones, too.. will take issue with that. We SHOULD feel good about ourselves, we argue. If we have done good things and accomplished certain things, why shouldn't we feel happy for that and if we believe we should not feel happy for that it can rob us of needed that helps promote our growth in other areas. In order to grow, you must believe that you can.

However, I don't think that is what the problem would be. That's not the kind of damage that pride can do. It isn't about loving yourself for the good that you do. It is more about depriving yourself of the good that is DUE, out of the refusal to admit that you can be wrong or flawed or the need to have others acknowledge you as being good.

There were times in my life when I had to go on or in the life stage in which I found myself. I would risist it for a long time, even as I found my options shrinking. I didn't want to admit that I could need help, and so I would suffer and not have as good as conditions as I could have out of my pride of feeling myself too good for the help.

Similarly, there have been times that I was determined to win or be proven right in a conflict or disagreement with someone else. The end result of that desire was loss of connections and potential that could be had if the need to "win" was set aside.

So, while it is good to feel happy about your accomplishments, it is destructive to feel you are too good to be mistaken, flawed, or wrong for seeking your own way. And, that misunderstanding can cost you more than you were made to lose. or does not break you down. It is the beginning of beginning to rise.

What It's Like to Walk in Faith

There was a Christian band that I listened to when I was much younger that was called Angelica, I believe. They were a screaming guitar rock band, as many of the bands of that time where. They had this one song that was called Walking in Faith. So, being a young Christian I was like..... yeah... WALKING IN FAITH at the top of my lungs and believing that everything would be perfect in my life, like a Biblical providence story unfolding. I really believed that was what the Scripture meant when it said to walk in faith. You claimed your belief and waited for God to make it happen. There are quite a few that still believe that is true, even though that is closer to spell casting than faith in God... or life for that matter.

The kind of understanding that I have come to have about faith is that it is hard, often lonely, filled with reasons to doubt, takes a long time, changes you, and often is answered in a way that you do not expect. I have walked in faith many times, and I am doing so, again. In those moments, you wonder a lot of things.. if it will happen, if you are stupid to try, if you are enough, and if you are doing the best that you can do, for example. Faith isn't about having the answers and knowing things with clarity. If it was, it wouldn't be faith. Faith is not knowing all of these things and yet TRYING.. stepping up to the plate to take a swing and then swinging, making the move, beginning the fitness goal, making the plans and then executing your best, even on the difficult days.

But, you were not meant to do it alone. I know it often feels like that is the case, but that is what faith in God REALLY is all about. It isn't speaking some words to get what you want. It is letting it break you down enough to tell God about it, who is standing there waiting for you to call and wanting to be there for you like every parent feels and wants for their kids. Faith isn't getting your desires. It is about desiring and walking in the direction of the goal, trying your best, forgiving your worst, and receiving God's grace and peace on the journey.

And, that is what I wish for you, tonight. I hope you had a good weekend. Let's walk in faith in the weeks to come.